Members of Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community gather to participate in the final prayer ceremony in the presence of their new spiritual leader Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014. AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade

IANS

Mumbai Â – Private security personnel allegedly assaulted the sons of a self-proclaimed Muslim religious leader while they were praying at a south Mumbai Â mausoleum Friday.

According to a complaint with the local police station and medical reports from Sir J.J. Hospital, the trio -Â sons of Syedna (a title similar to Catholicism’s Pope) Khuzaima Qutbuddin, aÂ self-proclaimed religious leader of the Shia Islam Dawoodi Bohra community – wereÂ physically assaulted, pushed around and attacked with a blunt object while paying respects at the Raudat TaheraÂ mausoleum where the 51st and 52nd former Syednas are laid to rest.

The three — Shahzada Abdeali, Shahzada Husain and Shahzada Aziz — also registered police complaints about the incident.

In a statement to media, the sons said they were physically prevented by some unruly elements and members of the Burhani Guards’ “Jehadi group,” currently under the control of the sons of the late Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, who died in January.

The victims sought police protection, which was given, but when they returned to the mausoleum they only faced more aggression at the hands of the Burhani Guards’ personnel.

Police later detained three personnel of the Burhani Guards.

The victims’ father, Syedna Khuzaima Qutbuddin, has filed a suit in Bombay High Court staking claim to the post of Syedna while asking to restrain the reigning Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, son of the late Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, from acting as the Dawoodi Bohra community head (Syedna). The suit is currently pending.

Friday’s incident, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, has upset the peace-loving Dawoodi Bohra community.